RAMALLAH: Palestinian worshippers at Al-Aqsa Mosque were attacked by Israeli police again on Thursday, a day after being forcibly expelled from the compound to allow dozens of Israeli settlers to enter for the Passover feast.
The tightened restrictions had led to a steep drop in the number of worshippers at the mosque, officials said, with just 20,000 attending the taraweeh prayer on Wednesday, down from 80,000 the day before.
Hundreds of worshippers performed the fajr prayer on the thresholds of Al-Aqsa, but as soon as it ended, Israeli forces removed them from the area.
Police allowed fewer than 40 Palestinians to enter the mosque on Thursday morning.
The Israeli extremist Temple organizations have called on their supporters to storm Al-Aqsa during the Jewish Passover that ends next week.
Omar Al-Kiswani, director of Al-Aqsa Mosque, told Arab News that several Muslims were unable to offer the fajr prayer on Thursday because of Israeli restrictions, a heavy military deployment at the gates and a lockdown in the West Bank that will remain in place until Saturday.
A total of 199 settlers had stormed Al-Aqsa under the protection of the Israeli police on Thursday, he said.
Experts said the cost of the damage caused by Israeli police inside the mosque on Wednesday could run into the tens of thousands of dollars. Precious glass windows, doors, Qur’an libraries and a clinic were all damaged.
Al-Kiswani said this had become a policy of the occupation forces during their crackdown at the holy site.
The third Friday of Ramadan is set to come amid a strict security situation in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. It is not known if the Israeli authorities will allow worshipers to reach Al-Aqsa.
Also, the third-Friday sermon will be a challenge for the preacher who could be accused of incitement against the Israeli authorities.
Al-Kiswani said Al-Aqsa preacher Mohammed Sarandah was summoned by Israeli security authorities before the start of Ramadan and accused of inciting worshippers. He was removed from Al-Aqsa for two months.
“We are more concerned about calm in Al-Aqsa Mosque than the Israelis because calm attracts more worshipers during Ramadan,” Al-Kiswani said, adding that an intervention by Arab and Islamic countries could stop Israeli incursions into the mosque.
On Thursday, Jordan and Palestine submitted a joint request to the UN Security Council to hold a closed-door emergency session on Friday to discuss Israeli violations at Al-Aqsa Mosque.
Jerusalemites told Arab News that the repressive measures there were intended to embarrass Jordan and prove that the Jordanian leadership was unable to protect the sacred site.
Jordan has been the official custodian of Muslim and Christian holy places in Jerusalem since 1924. For Muslims, Al-Aqsa represents the world’s third-holiest site.
Fatah’s prominent leader in East Jerusalem, Ahmed Ghuneim, said the Israeli tampering with the status quo at Al-Aqsa constituted a threat to Jordan and would destabilize its internal security and stability.
Political analyst Ghassan Al-Khatib told Arab News that Israel’s right-wing government was deceiving Jordan by giving it promises to preserve the status quo at Al-Aqsa, while Israelis were taking advantage of its lack of power.
Jerusalemites said the Israeli occupation had used different methods to reduce the number of Palestinian worshipers at Al-Aqsa over the past two decades to allow settlers to storm it and carry out their religious rituals without significant resistance.
Meanwhile, a 15-year-old Palestinian boy, Khader Ghurab, was injured after being shot by a settler in the old city of Jerusalem late on Wednesday.
Palestinian worshippers at Al-Aqsa face second day of harassment by Israeli police
https://arab.news/vacps
Palestinian worshippers at Al-Aqsa face second day of harassment by Israeli police
- Attacks come after Muslims forcibly expelled from holy site on Wednesday
- Several worshippers unable to perform daily prayers, mosque director says
Jordan’s king says Israel’s resumption of Gaza attacks a ‘dangerous step’
“Israel’s resumption of attacks on Gaza is an extremely dangerous step that adds further devastation to an already dire humanitarian situation,” he said, standing next to French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris.
Gaza health ministry says one dead among foreign UN staff injured in Israeli strike
GAZA: The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said that a foreign UN worker was killed and five others seriously injured Wednesday by an Israeli strike on their headquarters.
A statement from the health ministry said there was “one death and five severe injuries among foreign staff working for UN institutions... due to the bombing of their headquarters by the occupation in the central governorate a short while ago,” adding they had been taken to the Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
AFP has not been able to confirm the information with the UN.
Israel's army, however, denied striking the UN building in Gaza.
“Contrary to reports, the IDF (army) did not strike a UN compound in Deir el-Balah,” the army said in a statement, while an army spokesperson told AFP: “I confirm there was no IDF operational activity there and that the IDF didn't strike the UN compound.”
Hamas says open to talks as Israel keeps up Gaza strikes
- Hamas is open to talks on getting the ceasefire back on track but will not renegotiate the agreement that took effect on January 19
- Negotiations have stalled over how to proceed with a ceasefire whose first phase expired in early March
GAZA CITY: Hamas said it remained open to negotiations while calling for pressure on Israel Wednesday to implement a Gaza truce after its deadliest bombing since the fragile ceasefire began in January.
Israel carried out fresh air strikes on Gaza on Wednesday, killing 13 people according to the territory’s civil defense agency, after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday’s raids were “only the beginning.”
The United Nations and countries around the world condemned the high civilian death toll in the renewed strikes, which have killed more than 400 people, according to Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
Hamas is open to talks on getting the ceasefire back on track but will not renegotiate the agreement that took effect on January 19, an official from the militant group said.
“Hamas has not closed the door on negotiations but we insist there is no need for new agreements,” Taher Al-Nunu told AFP.
“We have no conditions, but we demand that the occupation be compelled to immediately halt its aggression and war of extermination, and begin the second phase of negotiations.”
Negotiations have stalled over how to proceed with a ceasefire whose first phase expired in early March, with Israel and Hamas disagreeing on whether to move to a new phase intended to bring the war to an end.
Instead, Israel and the United States have sought to change the terms of the deal by extending stage one.
That would delay the start of phase two, which was meant to establish a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and was swiftly rejected by Hamas, which demanded full implementation of the original deal.
“There is no need for new agreements in light of the existing agreement signed by all parties,” Nunu said.
Israel and the United States have portrayed Hamas’s rejection of an extended stage one as a refusal to release more Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
Netanyahu’s office said he ordered the renewed strikes on Gaza after “Hamas’s repeated refusal to release our hostages.”
In a televised address late Tuesday, the premier said: “From now on, negotiations will take place only under fire... Military pressure is essential for the release of additional hostages.
“Hamas has already felt the strength of our arm in the past 24 hours. And I want to promise you — and them — this is only the beginning.”
The White House said Israel consulted US President Donald Trump’s administration before launching the strikes, while Israel said the return to fighting was “fully coordinated” with Washington.
The intense Israeli bombardment sent a stream of new casualties to the few hospitals still functioning in Gaza and triggered fears of a return to full-blown war after two months of relative calm.
The roads were once again filled with Palestinian civilians on the move as families responded to evacuation warnings from the Israeli army.
“Today I felt that Gaza is a real hell,” said Jihan Nahhal, a 43-year-old from Gaza City, adding some of her relatives were wounded or killed in the strikes.
“Suddenly there were huge explosions, as if it were the first day of the war.”
The Gaza health ministry said the bodies of 413 people had been received by hospitals, adding people were still under the rubble.
A spokeswoman for the UN children’s agency UNICEF said medical facilities that “have already been decimated” by the war were now “overwhelmed.”
Governments in the Middle East, Europe and beyond called for the renewed hostilities to end.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Israel’s raids on Gaza “are shattering the tangible hopes of so many Israelis and Palestinians of an end to suffering on all sides.”
European Union foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said she told her Israeli counterpart Gideon Saar that the new strikes on Gaza were “unacceptable.”
Both Egypt and Qatar, which brokered the Gaza ceasefire alongside the United States, condemned Israel’s resort to military action.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi said the strikes were part of “deliberate efforts to make the Gaza Strip uninhabitable and force the Palestinians into displacement.”
Trump has floated a proposal to move Palestinians out of Gaza, an idea rejected by Palestinians and governments in the region and beyond, but embraced by some Israeli politicians.
Israel’s resumption of military operations in Gaza, after it already halted all humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza this month, drew an immediate political dividend for Netanyahu.
The far-right Otzma Yehudit party, which quit his ruling coalition in January in protest at the Gaza ceasefire, rejoined its ranks with its firebrand leader Itamar Ben Gvir again becoming national security minister.
The war began with Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in 1,218 deaths, mostly civilians, according to Israeli figures.
Israel’s retaliation in Gaza has killed at least 48,577 people, also mostly civilians, according to figures from the territory’s health ministry.
Of the 251 hostages seized during the attack, 58 are still in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Trump meets UAE national security adviser, discusses strategic partnership prospects
- Sheikh Tahnoon is on an official visit to the US where he will meet with senior US administration officials and business leaders
DUBAI: UAE National Security Adviser Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al-Nahyan met with US President Donald Trump at the White House on Wednesday in the presence of senior US officials.
“Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed and the US President discussed opportunities to strengthen the long-term strategic partnership between the UAE and the US and explored ways to enhance it to serve their shared interests,” the state run WAM news agency reported.
Sheikh Tahnoon is on an official visit to the US where he will meet with senior US administration officials and business leaders.
During his meeting with Trump, Tahnoon affirmed the UAE’s commitment to strengthening economic ties with the US by expanding partnerships.
Sheikh Tahnoon also met with US National Security Adviser Michael Waltz and discussed ways to advance bilateral relations and the latest developments on matters of mutual interest.
Iraq makes rare seizure of ship suspected of fuel smuggling in Gulf
BAGHDAD: Iraqi naval forces have seized an unidentified ship in Iraqi territorial waters in the Gulf suspected of smuggling fuel, the naval forces said in a statement.
Fuel smuggling is common in Gulf waters, where heavily subsidised fuel from some countries is sold on the black market to buyers across the region, though it is relatively rare for Iraqi authorities to seize ships.
A naval patrol boat intercepted the ship on Tuesday after receiving intelligence about suspected illegal activity, according to the navy statement issued late on Tuesday.
The navy said an Iranian captain, eight Indian nationals, and two Iraqi crew members were onboard the ship.
The navy released a picture of the ship, in which no name was visible. It gave no further details about the vessel.
The ship was towed to Umm Qasr naval base for further investigation, and the crew has been handed over to the local police, the navy said.
